I’m deeply thankful for everything the game has done for me and I will always remember the great people I met along the way as well. #mlb

— Dontrelle Willis (@D_Train35) July 2, 2012

The Florida Marlins in 2002 traded starter Matt Clement and reliever Antonio Alfonseca for Julian Tavarez and a few other prospects, one of which was 22-year old prospect, Dontrelle Willis. The trade was actually the first trade by new Marlins general manager Larry Beinfest. Willis dominated the minor leagues in 2002, posting a 1.83 ERA in 24 starts with 128 strikeouts and just 24 walks in almost 158 innings. Prior to 2003, Baseball America ranked him as the 43rd best prospect in all of baseball, good for the fourth best prospect in the Marlins organization.

Willis made six starts in Double-A Carolina, posting a 1.46 ERA before the Marlins decided to call upon the talented left handed pitcher. The call-up was due in part to A.J. Burnett‘s elbow issues, which eventually led to Tommy John Surgery.

Willis made his first start on May 9, and Willis lasted six innings and allowed three runs while striking out seven and walking two batters. Willis went onto pitch 160 2/3 innings with a 3.30 ERA and 3.45 FIP in 2003. Willis would win Rookie of the Year award over Brandon Webb and Scott Podsednik. According to Fangraphs, Willis posted a 3.3 WAR in his rookie season. Willis also made the All-Star game in his rookie season.

After a couple of rough outings in the playoffs, Willis was relegated to be a L.O.G.G.Y the rest of the postseason. Even with this demotion, Willis played a huge role in the Marlins becoming World Champions for the second time in their brief history. In fact, Ozzie Guillen, who was the Marlins third base coach in 2003, gives a ton of credit to Willis for the Marlins winning:

“Obviously, it takes 25 guys to win the World Series,’’ Guillen said. “But I think this kid … took the pitching staff to the new level. For two or three months he was unhittable.’’

 

The next season, 2004 was a struggle for Willis, as he posted an 4.02 ERA and 4.01 FIP. Willis, along with the rest of his teammates followed up a great world series run, with a disappointing 2004 season. Even still, Marlins fans were confident that the Willis and the team could turn things around in 2005.

Those fans were correct. In 2005, Dontrelle Willis had the best season of his career in 2005, pitching 236 1/3 innings and posting a 2.63 ERA and 2.99 FIP. According to Fangraphs, Willis posted a 6.8 WAR that season, as he finished up as runner up to Chris Carpenter in the CY Young voting. That 2005 Willis season could go down as the best pitching season in Marlins history. Juan C. Rodriguez wants to know which Marlins pitching season you thought was the best.

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However, it is not a good thing when your manager feels like this, even after a win:

”There’s a lot going on,” Guillen said. ”We have a lot of concerns.”

The two biggest concerns for the Marlins remain, Josh Johnson and Heath Bell.

Josh Johnson struggled again in his start, this time failing to make it out of the third inning, after being handed a 5-0 lead after 1. (Image: Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE)

Source: FanGraphs

The game started out perfectly for the Marlins. Jose Reyes got a lead off-single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, Emilio Bonifacio then walked, and Hanley Ramirez lined a three-run home run to left field. The Marlins were not in the first inning yet. After Greg Dobbs grounded out, Omar Infante beat out an infield single. Giancarlo Stanton came up next and blasted a two-run shot to deep center field.

Just like that, the Marlins had a 5-0 lead before their ace even took the mound. This felt like a game that the Marlins were going to win easily.

Josh Johnson was unable to hold that lead and it was very obvious early on that Johnson did not have his best stuff. In the first inning, after recording the first two outs fairly easily, Johnson allowed two singles and plunked Chase Headley to load the bases before striking out Orlando Hudson to end the inning.

The third inning was the inning that everything unraveled for the Marlins. After the Marlins first two hitters reached in the top of the inning, San Diego Padres pitcher Anthony Bass was able to retire the next three hitters to get out of the inning. Boy, do the Marlins wish they could have cashed in with that opportunity.

In the bottom of the third, Josh Johnson fell apart and did not even make it out of the inning. Johnson threw 36 of his 67 pitches in the third.

Johnson opened the inning by walking Will Venable. Johnson then got Mark Kotsay to pop out, but allowed a run-scoring double to Chase Headley. Johnson was then able to induce a ground ball out to retire Yonder Alonso for the second out of the inning. The Marlins and Johnson were looking poised to take a 5-1 lead into the fourth inning. Tragically, the Marlins did not leave the third inning with the lead or their ace.

Nick Hundley roped a double and Orlando Hudson made up for his first inning strikeout with a run-scoring single. All of a sudden, the Marlins lead shrunk to just 5-3. Hudson stole second base when Brett Hayes, starting in the place of John Buck, again, short hopped a throw to second. Johnson then walked former Marlin Cameron Maybin and Jason Bartlett to load the bases for Anthony Bass, the pitcher. Perfect chance to get out of the inning with the lead in tact?

No, Bass lined a base hit, one that should have been just a single, that got passed Stanton and cleared the bases. The young pitchers first Major League hit was a three-run triple. The Padres had a 6-5 lead. Johnson was immediately removed and Dan Jennings was brought in to make his second big league appearance.

Josh Johnson was not too happy with himself following the game:

“Physically, I feel good,” he said. “When you throw the ball in the middle of the plate, it’s going to get hit. If you look at all of them, right down the middle. I’m wearing my bullpen out, which kills me, especially today. We get the five runs early, and then just squander that lead like that. It’s unacceptable.”

The Marlins were able to tie the game back up in the top of the fourth inning, after Jose Reyes beat out a double and scored on a balk. Reyes, on third base, was able to put pressure on Bass with his speed and when he faked to steal home, Bass stepped off, causing the balk and the tie ball game.

Jose Reyes celebrates after scoring on a balk by pitcher Anthony Bass. (Image: Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE)

The score remained the same until the bottom half of the fifth inning. Chad Gaudin was the pitcher for the Marlins.  A single by Mark Kotsay would score Bass to give the Padres a 7-6 lead.

Anthony Bass finished the game going six innings and Luke Gregorson replaced him in the top of the seventh inning. Gregorson walked Bonifacio with one out. With the Padres expecting Boni to steal, they decided to pitch out, the pitch got away from Gregorson, allowing Boni to take second. After Hanley popped out, Greg Dobbs lined a single to score Bonifacio, Dobbs alertly got to second base on the play, which set up nicely when Omar Infante picked up a base hit to score Dobbs. This gave the Marlins a 7-6 lead in the seventh.

Ryan Webb pitched the bottom of the seventh for the Marlins. After striking out the first two hitter, Webb allowed an infield single. Webb was done and Randy Choate was brought in. After two passed balls and a walk, the Padres had runners on the corners, trailing by just one. Choate was able to settle down and get Kotsay to ground out to end the inning.

The Marlins went down one-two-three in the eight inning, the only eventful play during that inning was when Reyes laid down a bunt, it seemed like he was going to beat it out, but he was running inside the base paths, so the umpires called him out on runners interference to end the inning. Choate was able to retire the Padres easily in the bottom of the inning and the Marlins went down without a fight in the top of the ninth.

This set up another save opportunity for struggling closer, Heath Bell.

The save opportunity did not start the way Bell wanted it to. Jesus Guzman lined a double down the right field line, and Cameron Maybin would tie up the game with his very own double. Barlett then put down a sac bunt to move Maybin to third base with one out. A game the Marlins lead 5-0 after one inning was looking like a game they would end up losing.

With one out, the Marlins opted to walk Andy Parrino to set up a double play. Bell was then able to strikeout Chris Denorfia before the Marlins decided to intentionally walk Kotsay to load the bases. Bell was then able to induce a ground ball to get out of the inning. The Marlins had successfully blown a 5-0 lead and a 8-7 lead to allow the game to go into extras.

No scoring opportunity action took place until the bottom of the eleventh. Former Marlin John Baker had a chance to drive in a former Marlin, Maybin, to win the game. Steve Cishek was able to get him to ground out to end the inning.

In the twelvth inning, Hanley Ramirez led the inning off with a walk. After Dobbs struck out, Omar Infante lined a double to the gap in left-center. Hanley Ramirez was able to score from first base on the play, and the Marlins had a 9-8 lead in extra innings. The Padres then walked Stanton to get Cishek to the plate, with no one available to pitch, Cishek hit for himself and laid down a beautiful sac bunt. Infante did not get a good jump and was thrown out at third. Brett Hayes struck out to end the inning.

Cishek was able to pitch out of a mini-jam in the ninth inning, his third inning of work, to ensure the Marlins with a 9-8 win, their fourth consecutive win.

The game lasted4 hours and 45 minutes and ended at 2:52 A.M. EDT. I was able to watch most of the game, but was falling asleep on my bed watching extra innings. I did catch Infante’s big hit, but I do not recall watching Cishek pitch at all. The Marlins won, so that is all that matters.

Apparently the reason for Cishek’s strong three inning, 52-pitch performance was gummy bears. This is what Cishek told Frank Forte after the game:

“Gummy Bears are Delicious”

Brett Hayes slips Steve Cishek a victory celebrating gummy bear. (Image: Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE)

They certainly are Cishek, maybe give some to Heath Bell to help him?

Ozzie Guillen was noncommittal when it came to saying who was the Marlins closer after the game:

“Bell continues to struggle,” Guillen said. “We will recheck tomorrow what will be that situation, closing. We’ve got to do something about it. We can’t be waiting any more. Then we’ll figure out tomorrow. We might talk to him about it.

Tonight, Mark Buehrle will take the mound for the Marlins, looking to rebound from his struggles in his last start. He will be opposed by Clayton Richard for the Padres.

Prediction: The Marlins continue their winning streak behind a complete game shutout from Buehrle. The Marlins win the game 4-0.

You can ‘Like’ Marlin Maniac by clicking here. You can follow Marlin Maniac on Twitter @MarlinManiac and you can follow Ehsan Kassim on Twitter at @ehsank24.

March 11, 2012; Port St Lucie, FL, USA; Florida Marlins first baseman

I come from the pre-Moneyball era, back when batting average and ERA ruled the earth, and one’s skill at rubbing sticks together determined one’s comfort level across a cold winter.  The days when a duplicate baseball card and a clothespin meant a new noisemaker for the Schwinn. Free agency was still pretty new, and the idea of following an individual player over your hometown team was in its infancy.

As I was forming my lifetime bond with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Walt Alston was at the helm, and the Durable Dodgers were packing the seats in Chavez Ravine. Three time zones away, Bill James was wearing out his first shirt pocket pen protector as he fomented revolution.  My family moved East, I grew up, the Sabremetrics gospel spread like wildfire, and I missed it.

An offshoot (sect?) of Sabremetrics is fantasy sports. For the last few years, I’ve been looking in from the fringes, feeling like the Little Match Girl watching the holiday feast from the frozen streets of Dickens’ London.  Like so many things that I’ve been doing with baseball lately, my 10-year-old son is the instigator.  He and I sat down with a couple of primer texts, and started looking at what it would take to run a team for a season.

We settled on the ESPN system, and decided that for the first year, we’d stick to a simple rotisserie league.  Once we had the basics figured out, we ran a couple of mock drafts for practice.  This weekend was my son’s first out-of-town tournament, and we had a couple of hotel nights free from honey-do’s and homework. Draft time.

In between breathless reports on the progress of “elevator tag” and trips to the pool (close your eyes and picture a hotel full of ‘tween boys on a road trip), we made our picks. For good or for bad, our team has the following roster:

P: Stephen Strasburg

P: Yu Darvish

P: Gio Gonzalez

P: Anibal Sanchez

P: Jaime Garcia

Bullpen: Ryan Dempster

Bullpen: Ricky Nolasco

Bullpen: Kenley Jansen

Closer: Craig Kimbrel

Closer: Ryan Madson

C: Wilson Ramos

1B: Albert Pujols

2B: Rickie Weeks

3B: Adrian Beltre

SS: Elvis Andrus

RF: Giancarlo Stanton

CF: Cameron Maybin

LF: Logan Morrison

Utility: Erick Aybar

Utility: Sean Rodriguez

Utility: Emilio Bonifacio

Bench: Gaby Sanchez

Bench: Jarrod Saltalamacchia

Bench: Jason Heyward

Bench: Torii Hunter

Like I said…for good or for bad.  Almost as soon as the draft finished, I read that Madson was out for the season for a Tommy John (I remember watching Tommy pitch).  And if being kidnapped and held for ransom wasn’t bad enough, Ramos is day-to-day with a bum knee.  So are Stanton and Morrison, as we Fish Fans are well aware.

So, right out of the gate, we dropped Madson and picked up Aroldis Chapman out of the undrafted players pool.  We’ll see how it works out.

We weren’t drafting from an array of analyses and spreadsheets.  We used a combination of the USA Today fantasy preview, ESPN’s in-draft rankings, and our own gut and emotion.  We’ll see how the “shoot and holler ‘Boo’” draft method works over 162 games.

I’ll be watching three things this year: first is the attention span of a fifth-grader over a season. Second is the attention span of a 47-year-old over a season. Finally, I’d like to see how we do against the other nine guys in our league.

However, this past week, Rosenthal made a post about how the “Miami Marlins might do well to trade Hanley Ramirez.” Yes, Ramirez has dominated the Marlins headlines lately. This past week, Buster Olney reported that the Marlins were listening to offers on the “disgruntled” superstar. Joe Frisaro was quick to dispell those rumors.

I am not taking a shot at Rosenthal about the Marlins trading Ramirez because he is unhappy. I have a real issue with some of the proposed trades that Rosenthal has come up with. The Marlins are better off keeping a disgruntled Ramirez and suspending him if he does not give in to what the team needs him to do. There is no way the Marlins should give any leverage or power to Ramirez if that is the case come Spring Training. With his down season and the fact that he is coming off of shoulder surgery, the Marlins would be wise to hold onto Ramirez, as his value has never been lower. With his trade value lowered, the Marlins would not be able to receive fair compensation that would make up for the loss of Ramirez. To his credit, Rosenthal does mention that in his post:

No, this is a player who occasionally flashes a selfish, petulant side — and frankly cannot be trusted to graciously make way for Reyes, his fellow Dominican.

Ramirez’s trade value is lower than it once was because of his shoulder, his sub-par performance last season and the $46.5 million remaining on the final three years of his contract. Some teams also believe that he is not a winning player.

But c’mon, he’s Hanley Ramirez.

So then I ask, does trading the Marlins most important player to their success make sense?

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